Desks of various types have been used for a very long time and in that time their design has changed very little. Traditionally, desks have provided a plurality of drawers or storage bins for storing everything necessary for conducting business or personal affairs. This includes drawers specifically adapted to hold pens and pencils as well as drawers designed to hold hanging file folders. Desks come in a great variety of sizes and shapes but typically are rectangular and are 5 to 7 feet long, side to side, and 2-1/2 to 4 feet deep, front to back. Desks larger than this size require too much floor space for most offices and homes, and desks smaller than this size provide insufficient room both for storage inside the desk and for work space on top of the desk.
The advent and widespread adoption of computers has dramatically affected the conduct of both business and personal affairs. People now use computers for everything from letter writing and record keeping to recreation. Consequently, many people use their desk to support some or all of their computer hardware. Traditional desks are not well suited to accommodating computers. Home and business computers typically consist of at least four parts: a main processing unit, a monitor or display unit, a keyboard or data entry device, and a mouse or pointing device. Many additional devices may be used with and connected to a computer. These include output devices such as printers as well as input devices such as scanners. The various components usually need to be located near to one another and interconnected with cables. When a computer is used with a traditional desk, which has an upper work surface and a variety of storage spaces, a monitor is typically placed on top of the work surface so that it can be easily viewed by a person working or sitting at the desk. The keyboard and mouse may also be placed on the working surface of the desk. The main processing unit must either be placed on the desk surface or on the floor alongside the desk. This arrangement of the computer hardware components clutters the work surface of the desk and may also take up floor space if the main processing unit is placed on the floor. If a printer or scanner is attached to the computer, space must also be found for this device. If a printer is placed on the work surface, the work surface becomes even more cluttered. If the user wishes to place a printer or scanner elsewhere, room on a shelf, a credenza, or the floor must be found. This too increases the clutter in the area surrounding the desk.
Many people use desks for both computer activities and non-computer activities but do not wish to have the upper surface of the desk cluttered with computer components when they wish to work at the desk.
The advent and adoption of computers has created a demand for and increasing supply of desks and work stations specifically adapted to house and support various components of a computer system. Computer desks or work stations typically provide room to store some or all components of the computer system on or within the desk or work station, thereby reducing clutter. However, currently available designs have several shortcomings. In order for a computer desk or work station to have sufficient storage room for all components of a computer system, it must either be large and bulky, or must eliminate storage for items other than the computer hardware. The advent of computers has not eliminated the need for many of the objects used prior to the advent of computers such as pens, paper, files, and miscellanies such as paper clips and stamps. Therefore, to be most useful, a computer desk or work station must provide storage for the hardware components of a computer system as well as provide the traditional types of storage that people have come to expect, such as room for hanging file folders, pens, paper and envelopes. Currently available designs for computer desks and work stations fail to satisfy this need. This is partially because the acceptable size for a desk or work station is limited. Most consumers are not willing to accept a desk or work station that is larger than a traditional desk. In addition, many homes and offices do not have room for a larger desk.
One way in which designers of computer desks and work stations have attempted to address the needs of computer users, is to provide a desk with a upwardly extending portion which provides additional storage above the surface of the desk. This approach has the drawback that it tends to be unattractive and to physically dominate a room in which the work station resides. Also, the fact that part of the work station extends up above the traditional height of a desk limits its use for most situations to a position against the wall. If the work station were located out into the room, it would create a barrier between different portions of the room. Persons sitting on opposite sides of the work station would not be able to easily see each other or to converse as is possible across a traditional height desk. While positioning a work station against the wall may work with some office layouts and some decorating approaches, most users prefer not to face a wall when they work at a desk or work station for a long period of time. Most persons prefer to face outwardly into a room, which is not possible with work stations which extend upwardly to a height greater than a traditional desk.
There is a need for desks of traditional height which provide storage for computer hardware as well as accessories such as printers and also provide storage space for hanging file folders, paper and envelopes, and other items traditionally stored in a desk. It is desirable that such a desk not be overly large and fit well into a traditional office or room layout without dominating the room.